Child of the Stars
by Cecelia817
Summary: "Once, there had been a child born from the stars and light, a girl who danced in the sky. Once, there had been a child born from stone and fire, a boy raised to protect and fight. They met one night, when a star touched the earth, and, love was born." [Nalu]
1. Child of the Stars

She was never meant to stay in one place for very long.

She had memories of so long ago. She was there when stars were formed. She could remember dancing among them as a small child, giggling in delight when the light would come near and speak to her.

" _Child,"_ they used to whisper. _"Come closer and play with us."_

Their light would reach out as if to grab her and drag her closer. She would always avoid the tendrils of stars, leaping away with glee. She used to speak to them. One, she learned, was named Aquarius. When she asked why the star replied, _"I know not, silly child. Just that I am, that I will be, and that I was."_

She met many more among the stars, one named Leo, another Virgo. So many more and whenever Lucy would visit them they would seem so excited and happy. They wished for her to play with them for all time.

She decided, in a moment, that they were lonely.

It was dark where they were. She couldn't decide why it was so cold, and why the only light came from them, but she thought that with only themselves for company it must get rather lonesome. So she promised them that she would stay with them forever. When she made this promise most had shined brighter in pure happiness, but the ruler of them all, the King she liked to call him, shook his head sadly.

" _It is not your destiny, my child,"_ he had said quietly. _"Though I wish it wasn't so, you will one day leave us."_

They named her Lucy regardless of the King's words. It was strange, she had thought, to have a name. To be called something else other than 'child'. But, after hearing Aquarius and the others call her this, she decided, she liked it.

Once, she asked where she came from. Who she was.

" _My child,"_ the King said, because he never called her by her name. _"I do not know. There are legends that a child would be spun from stars and light. That this child would meet another like it, built from stone and fire. But when that will be, and if that is you, is not yet known."_

His explanation made no sense to her, so she decided to think nothing of it.

In her free time she liked to daydream that she had a creator, a mother she would later call it, with hair as bright as hers, and a smile as soft. She liked to dream that she one day her creator would come and play with her.

But most of all, she wanted to stay there with the stars forever. To never leave.

Fate, of course, decided to intervene, and the King's words proved to be true.

It was unusual, really. One moment, she had been playing with a star called Gemini and the next, she was gone. And it was bright. The brightness was unlike anything she was used to. The next thing she noticed was the warmth. And from there, was chaos.

Beneath her was a soft substance, an unusual shade of color, something she could not place. When she looked up, all she saw was light blue. Fear had filled her, something she was not used to. Foreign objects shot from below her, reaching towards the blue as if trying to escape.

Lucy walked for a long time. She could not judge the time, but when the sky darkened suddenly, she looked up. Even if she could not see them as clearly as before, she would recognize her friends anywhere. They were the stars.

Suddenly the loneliness consumed her and strangled her. She had broken her promise to her friends. Nothing hurt more than this knowledge. Screams tore through her throat as tears cascaded down her cheeks. She screamed for the lost friends, her lost family, for her lost home.

Animals, she would come to realize later, came out at the ruckus she had created. Their eyes observed her with an intellect that she could not hope to match at her age. Her screams turned to sobs, then to sniffles, and then into silence. Hesitantly, one on four legs came out and stared up at her.

She was too far gone to wonder what it was or what it could possibly want. All she remembered after that was the sound of her small body hitting the floor as she fell unconscious.

When she woke, she stared into a light blue set of eyes.

"Child," the voice whispered. "Can you tell me your name?"

Lucy frowned, confused, before a shot of pain rang through her. _Child, what the King used to call me._ Before she could muffle them choked sobs escaped through her lips as she curled farther into a ball. She did not want to exist anymore if it was not with her family.

"Child, tell me your name this instant," the voice commanded sternly. After a moment of silence the voice gave a tired sigh. Lucy heard something creak through the arms that covered her head. "You caused quite a ruckus, little one. You were screaming your head off, caused almost the entire village to wake. My name is Mira. It's lucky I found you, or else a wild animal might have gotten you, or worse, a wild man. You are very small after all. Won't you tell me your name?"

Lucy hesitantly peeked through her arms to see a woman sitting next to her, with hair as white as snow; she would later come to know the term. Her eyes were kind as she looked at her. Something warm fluttered through her at the sight.

"L-Lucy," she whispered, eyeing the woman like a scared animal. "Lucy, Child of the Stars."

After that, she had grown with Mira. She learned by human standards that she was maybe five years old, but age mattered little to her. When asked where she came from she always gave the same answer.

She came from the stars.

She got many strange looks for that answer but she didn't care. Everything was strange here, and she didn't like it. She wanted to go home more than anything. Every night she would go lie in the grass, and stare up at the stars, talking to them. Sometimes she thought she saw them twinkle, as if responding to her words.

Lucy didn't understand what happened to her or really anything around her, but Mira believed the tales Lucy would tell her. She called Lucy the Fallen Star. Lucy did not mind the title, because that meant if she had fallen, there must be a way to climb back up.

She lived with Mira for two years, she remembered. It had been a happy but scary time. She loved Mira like a mother, and Mira taught her many things. But fate once again intervened. She had been lying in the grass once again that night, staring up at her family, when there was a shift in the wind, and she was suddenly not where she was supposed to be.

The smell of smoke filled her nose and immediately she started coughing which did not help the matter. Glancing around through squinted eyes she took in her surroundings.

Flames, great and wild surrounded her, as bright as the stars used to be. Terror consumed her and she could no longer move. And that was when she heard pounding on the ground, so loud it petrified her to her very veins. And then a ginormous beast was approaching and with a shout she was scooped from her place on the ground and shoved onto the creature.

"What are you doing here, little girl!" the voice barked angrily. "This is a battle ground; it is not a place for children! How did you even get here?"

"I-I don't know," she whispered, too afraid to turn back and look at the speaker. He grunted but said nothing as they sped on, away from the fire and into the night.

It was what they called the 1300's but she didn't pay much attention to titles. When asked her name by the man she had responded, "Lucy, Child of the Stars."

He had snorted, like what she said made perfect sense and he didn't like to think about the consequences.

He was a strange man. She learned his name was Gray eventually, and he lived in a place called Rome. Living with him was even stranger than living with Mira. He was cold and distant, but he seemed to care for her. Why else would he let her live with him in his home?

She still talked to the stars and told them that she would find a way to get back to them. They just twinkled sadly back at her.

She told Gray where she came from, the stars, and he had just shook his head, muttering something about the gods and their punishment. She had no trust for the gods Gray would talk about but decided not to voice her opinions. She had seen how women were treated when peeking her head outside the door of her new home.

Gray told Lucy that it would be best if she not set one foot outside lest the fate of death become her. Children were not safe in Rome, especially girls, and she willingly agreed. Lucy stayed there for one year.

When eight, according to the people, suddenly she was transported to another time, and then another. Each time she lived with someone else, someone new. They all took care of her, and each time she left someone she realized she was being moved through time.

She kept the name Lucy, Child of the Stars. But she also was called other things, like Fallen Star, Angel, Sun's Heart. They all marveled at her hair. They said it reminded them of the stars.

She told them that the stars were much more beautiful and bright, that everything about them radiated light. The older she got, the less anyone listened. And the more she forgot.

She was seventeen now. It was year 1878 in America, and this time, instead of living with someone else, she was by herself. She realized eventually that she could not live among normal people anymore. She was too strange, her talk and walk too different, her hair far too strange.

Lucy used to be admired for her hair, now she was called a freak. So she lived in the woods, avoiding people. Each day passed in loneliness, each day wishing to go back home.

Lucy's hair had grown longer, and many would call her body beautiful. She did not notice. Her mind was too lost in thoughts of returning home.

And that's when it happened. Fate once again intervened.

A boy, maybe a year older than her by the looks appeared. His hair was a light pink, his eyes a sharp green with canines like knives. He had taken one look at her, standing in the woods, and whispered, "I've found you."

An emotion so complicated and mixed rose within her and against her will tears started to flow down her cheeks. She could not look away from the boy.

"What is your name?" he asked quietly, taking a few steps closer. Lucy could not move her body backwards like her mind told her she should.

"Lucy, Child of the Stars."

It had been a line repeated so often that it started to loose meaning, but standing here, staring at this boy as she answered him, all of it suddenly hit her in one hit. _She was Lucy, Child of the Stars._

The boy's eyes widened as a grin split his face. It looked so positively happy that her own lips twitched in response. She could not remember the last time she had smiled. Had it been when she last danced with the stars, or when Mira would tickle her into fits? Everything after that had been dark, and terrifying.

"And your name?" Lucy whispered. Unsure why, something inside of her was afraid of the answer. His smile softened.

"Natsu, Child of the Earth. It has been so long, Lucy."

And then it came like a rushing river. She remembered him. It was like a long ago memory, something she had almost forgotten. Before she had met the King and the other stories, there had been a Before. A before of happiness, a before of love. And in that Before, there was Natsu.

They knew there time was coming to leave each other, to start their lives over. But they promised to meet up again, no matter the cost.

And that promise had been fulfilled.

Without another word she rushed forward and crashed her body against his, his arms enveloping her small body to pulling her closer.

"I've been searching for you, Lucy," he whispered into her hair. "I never realized it, but I've been searching time and space for you."

She nodded through the tears. "I had forgotten, but I still searched. I thought it was for a way back to the stars, but it was a way back to you."

His grip tightened. "No need to look any longer, child of the stars."

" _Once, there had been a child born from the stars and light, a girl who danced in the sky. Once, there had been a child born from stone and fire, a boy raised to protect and fight. They met one night, when a star touched the earth, and, love was born. When they existed it was called the Before, but the After was coming soon, they could both feel it. The After would disrupt everything, they knew. They made a promise, that when the After occurred, no matter what, they would find each other. Even if that meant traveling through time and becoming human. Whatever it took, they would be reunited._

" _And so it came to be, once again, the Child of the Stars met the Child of the Earth, fulfilling their long ago promise."_

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 **Hello, so this is a story that suddenly popped into my mind and I don't know I'm proud of it. I might post another chapter about Natsu's experience and everything if I get good enough feedback. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed (this story is what happens when I don't sleep XD)**

 **Thanks for reading! Review!**


	2. Child of the Earth

Natsu hadn't had much contact with humans, and he preferred it that way. He used to watch them when he was bored and found there ways barbaric and boring. Sure, he could enjoy a good fist fight every now and then, but killing innocents for no reason other than power and money? No thanks. Of course he tried to interfere when he could, but he had to remain invisible when doing so.

The fire spirits did not want his presence in the world to be known. For reasons he could never quite understand they kept close to him since he woke up on the cold hard ground of the forest floor. He was five or six, somewhere around that age range.

The fire spirits were not what you would expect. When thinking of fire usually you think wild and bright, but these were quiet and calm. He considered them his conscience when his own failed him.

They were small things and most of the time invisible. Natsu never got a good look at them due to this, so there shape was unknown to him. Natsu liked to imagine they were just little floating fires with eyes and mouths. They sure talked enough. As far as he could tell there were four of them.

The moment he came to earth they called him Natsu, Child of the Earth.

He had snorted at the name, even as a child. When asking why spirits of the earth didn't follow him around instead of fire they had seemed slightly put off.

"Natsu, you… Can you not sense them?" one had practically hissed.

Another piped up, "He isn't very smart, is he? Child, the earth spirits are always watching, even if you cannot sense them. After all, we do stand on them."

That had disturbed him more than anything. Natsu didn't like the idea of being watched no matter where he went, and from then on, he always felt a pair of eyes on his back.

Most of his life was spent skipping through time, looking for his father Igneel.

Natsu remembered Igneel from before he came to earth. Igneel was a mighty dragon, and they had lived somewhere strange compared to this planet, somewhere warm. The details were foggy now, but he had a feeling that Igneel had followed him to earth. And he would stop at nothing to find him.

True, he had been confused and scared upon first entering this world. He felt like something was missing, something essential. He assumed it was his father. But the spirits kept him company while he traveled.

Mainly he lived in the forest, quietly keeping watch over the people. It was a little disorienting when he went to sleep in Egypt as the pyramids were being built to waking up in Japan as samurais fought to their deaths. The time jumping was always a major pain considering how much could change in one year.

It made searching for Igneel even harder.

Once, he had walked into a town because the water he drank from the river started to taste funny. The spirits were against allowing him out of the forest but he disregarded them for the time. He was thirsty and he would not allow the spirits fear to make him die from dehydration.

Natsu knew he looked strange with his tan and tight skin, with bright pink hair sticking up in spikes, teeth as sharp as a dragons, and slanted eyes as black as the night. But he still never thought his looks would warrant the staring it did the moment he stepped into one of the stores.

One of the woman stared with heated cheeks at his exposed chest. He frowned as he noticed a giant, yellow hat sitting atop her head. For the life of him, he could not figure out why she wore such a thing, or why her dress was so tight it looked like she could hardly breathe.

He much preferred it years ago when the girls had worn simple clothing that let them move easily through the forests as they hunted for dinner. Though he supposed that wasn't as common as he thought it was.

Shrugging he turned and grabbed a gallon of water, depositing a few coins he'd robbed off a fat man outside, before stepping outside into the scorching heat. He received many stairs still, and some men even had the audacity to spit at him. He only refrained from beating the men by the spirits whispering to him, telling him not to draw more attention to himself.

After that experience he hadn't gone out to town to get anything more. He was sixteen at the time.

But despite this, he still had his curiosity's that went beyond a small child's. He wanted to know why he couldn't go live with them. He knew he still had to find Igneel, and that took precedence, but he'd like to know the reasons it wasn't an option.

So he asked.

"Child of Earth, why would even wonder of such a thing?" a voice asked by his ear. "Do you wish to go be a human?"

Natsu frowned. "You know, you guys never told me what I am. Or why you're following me. In fact, you haven't told me anything!"

He was slightly shocked to realize this, and then it begged the question, why was this the first time he was curious about it?

His questions were met with silence. This only served to make him angrier.

"Sprits, tell me now," Natsu growled.

"…Very well."

"Brother, surely you are not…?!"

"We have not much choice, and he deserves to know."

"…"

Natsu settled down against a tree in the middle of the forest, and waited for the spirits to begin their tale.

"Natsu, what you are will always be a mystery. Some will call you by your formal title, Child of the Earth, others might even go as far to call you a dragons son. But it matters not really. The only thing that is known for sure that you and the other have existed in the Before, and are still alive in the After. We know you exist to fulfill a promise, though what it is is also unclear," the spirit said quietly.

Another, one with a higher pitch, spoke. "We found you Natsu, and we knew immediately that you must be protected above all else. But we also knew you would not be able to live among normal humans."

"Why is that?" Natsu asked angrily. "If I had grown with them then I would have learned their customs, and adapted!"

"No," another whispered. "No matter how much you learned, you are too wild, too unlike them. In the time you grew they would have killed you for your strangeness. Humans are barbarians, you have seen this."

"Child," the original speaker said, "it is not only that. You seemed to radiate an otherworldly-ness. Almost like magic. We cannot let you go and disrupt this world."

"You spoke of another," Natsu muttered, eyes widening slightly. "There is another one like me?"

An uneasy silence met him, serving to only put him more on edge.

"What are you hiding from me?" he asked. Natsu glared at surroundings, looking for the spirits though he knew they would not reveal themselves.

"There was another," one of the spirits said quietly. "In the Before, but the other was not like you exactly. We know next to nothing about the other, just that they are somewhere on earth."

With that his hopes vanished. This 'other' could have been his chance to discovering what exactly this promise he had to fulfill was, and maybe even where Igneel was. But for all he knew, the other could be in a completely different time period. Natsu sighed.

"Are you mad at us, Child of the Earth?"

Natsu shook his head. "In the end, none of this helps me much, does it? It just confuses me more than before."

After that he still traveled from place to place, following his old routine of searching every crack and corner for his father. He knew it was unlikely for a massive dragon to be hiding in small caves but that did not stop him from looking. But still, resting in the back of his mind were thoughts of the 'other' and his promise.

He started to wonder that if he supposedly fulfilled this promise, does that mean his reason for existing would disappear, and with it, so would he?

The thought unsettled him. Whatever this promise was, it would have to wait. Some things were just more important.

And then one day he woke up, and the air was different.

Immediately he knew he had skipped times again. Scowling because it sent his search back once again he stood and decided that figuring out the year would be a good way to restart his search.

The woods had grown thinner than before but he decided he was most likely still in the same place as before. He happened upon a town sooner than he expected and stared in wonder. It was a small town, but buildings towered into the sky and the air reeked of something disgusting (he would learn later it was called gas). It took one glance at a piece of paper on the ground to realize it was 1878. A pleased smile lit his face, despite the scowls he received from people walking passed him. It wasn't too far into the future this time.

But, he frowned, glancing at the sky. Something was still different.

Why did he get the feeling this would be his last time to travel through time? Dismissing it as just a passing fancy he found his way back into the forest, all the while, the spirits almost begging him not to go to town again.

"Will you leave me be for just a second?" he snapped after what felt like hours of their nagging. He needed a new game plan to start searching for Igneel, and for that, he needed silence.

He could have sworn he saw their forms flicker for a second but they were gone before he could catch their shapes.

"Very well, Child of the Earth. We shall leave you for a small amount of time, but do not do something drastic."

Waving them away he stormed off into the woods, leaving the spirits behind. He wasn't truly angry at them, or anything of the like. He just had a feeling that if he didn't leave them in that second then something bad would happen, and he would miss a great opportunity. His legs moved without his permission forwards and through the brush.

And then his eyes landed on a girl.

Her blonde hair seemed so familiar, and when her dark brown eyes stared up at him in confusion it suddenly slapped into his mind like a rubber band. This was the 'other'.

"I've found you." It slipped out before he could stop himself. It seemed like his body wasn't following his minds commands. As he stepped closer he asked her name. Nervous flurries tore through his stomach though he couldn't be sure why.

"Lucy, Child of the Stars."

And then, he _remembered_.

 _They could feel the Before ending, just like all things did. Their friends had already left to go to the After, to become new people, to scatter themselves across the new world. Their friends had accepted the destiny as easily as you could imagine, knowing there was no point in fighting it._

 _But Natsu and Lucy were different._

 _They knew that the moment the Before ended and the After started, they would not be themselves. They would become something different, whether better or worse they didn't know. But they knew that the moment it happened, they would be separated._

 _Natsu had felt the ground shake below him but he barely noticed, his gaze and mind were focused solely on Lucy. His hands were on her cheeks, brushing away with his thumbs the tears that escaped her eyes._

" _We will meet again, Lucy," he whispered. Her tears fell faster. "No matter the cost, I will find you. And we will be together once again."_

" _You promise?" she had asked quietly, her eyes never wavering from his._

" _I promise."_

Natsu couldn't hold back the grin that split his face, but he pretended not to notice the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. It had been so _long_.

How could he have forgotten? Everything that had happened long ago, how could he have let it get lost in his mind? Suddenly he felt like a balloon was expanding in his chest and he had no idea how to pop it.

Lucy looked at him with such longing in her eyes that it sent shivers down his back, but there was confusion mixed with it too.

"And your name?" Her voice was as soft as he remembered.

He didn't have time to process Lucy's actions when he answered. Suddenly she was there, crashing against his body as she sobbed onto his chest. He buried his nose in her hair, soaking up the familiar scent of her, and he couldn't help but whisper with a quirk of his lips, "I've been searching for you Lucy."

And it was true. Though he still wished to find his father Igneel, it all paled in comparison to finding Lucy. Natsu had always had the feeling that something in his life was missing, something essential. But he no longer felt that way as he whispered into her ear. Everything felt right once again.

" _Their promise has been filled, King. The destined have found each other."_

" _Yes, it seems to be true."_

" _Pardon me for asking… but what will happen to them now? Where will they go?"_

 _The King chuckled. "Why, continue their adventure of course! No matter where that takes them, they will always be together."_

 _The Child of the Stars and the Child of the Earth were never seen again, though the fire spirits and the stars searched high and low. Not even the earth spirits could locate them. It was all for the best in the end. They became nothing but a legend after that, a story that humans would tell their children before they went to sleep, but to them, it would always be a story. Only the spirits and the stars knew that it was no simple fairy tale._

 _And so, the long ago promise was fulfilled, and never again would it be broken._

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 **By popular demand I did a second part to this little thing I wrote. I also posted it on my tumbr "tale-of-the-fairies" if you're interested. Thank you for all of your kind reviews, they mean a lot :D**

 **Alright, this is the end of the road for this story. I hope you enjoyed! Make sure to review!**


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